


The March of the Army of Dawn

by Tsod



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Forgotten Realms, Original Work
Genre: Dragons, Gen, Gods, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 09:01:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28686024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tsod/pseuds/Tsod
Summary: The prologue and opening to an original Dungeons & Dragons module based on events that occurred in the eastern lands of the forgotten realms south of the Sea of Fallen Stars.





	The March of the Army of Dawn

Gilgeam, god-king of Unther, began a campaign of genocide against the “unproven” races of his realm. All save humans, elves, half-elves, and dragonborn were branded as heretics and a crusade was assembled to put the non-believers to the sword. Even among those spared, those who did not profess their loyalty to Gilgeam and his Victorious Legion were summarily executed for heresy and treason.

This campaign took the Victorious Legion to the borders of Chessenta, chasing fugitives seeking safer lands. Not caring for diplomacy and unwilling to slow his army’s march, Gilgeam struck a deal with Alasklerbanbastos, tyrannical dracolich and ruler of Threskel. Alasklerbanbastos, having sought lichdom as a means to fight Tchazzar - a fellow dragon and de facto ruler of Chessenta - was eager to use the additional might to finally slay his mortal enemy.

Alasklerbanbastos lent his worshippers, The Cult of the Dragon, to Gilgeam’s Victorious Legion. When the fighting reached Luthcheq, where Tchazzar had built his palace, Alasklerbanbastos appeared himself to lead the assault. With Tchazzar forced to retreat, the Victorious Legion quickly claimed the capital city of Cimbar and began to push into the nation of Akanul. The regions of Unther, Chessenta, Akanul, and Threskel became the Untheric Empire, where those who did not swear allegiance to at least one of the two ruling tyrants were executed without remorse.

A century later, Tchazzar returned at the head of the Army of Dawn, led by himself and an aasimar whom the army called Saint Lucea. They marched with such strength, speed, and conviction that they had taken Chessenta’s former capital in less than a day. Saint Lucea immediately began rallying the common people, making it known that the Army of Dawn would suffer tyrants and their evils no longer. Wielding holy magicks as if she was a god herself, Saint Lucea consecrated the ground around Cimbar, so that no evil force could set foot there so long as she lived.

Though an extreme measure, the consecration was undeniably effective. Cultists and their summoned servants were burned away as if by holy fire within hours. Many others who had aligned themselves with the Untheric Empire were also found dead or forced to flee by Saint Lucea’s magic. Even criminals and those who had chosen unjust lives found staying within the city to be terribly uncomfortable, and sleep within the walls no longer afforded them meaningful rest.

As a final act before the Army of Dawn left Cimbar to take the Untheric Empire back for its people, Saint Lucea along with a full platoon of spellcasters would enact a massive ritual. In the motions completing the spell, Saint Lucea gestured toward Threskel and the distant Mount Thulbane, lair of Alasklerbanbastos. Her voice rang out to bid those without hope to find it in the skies over this heinous monument, and seek the Beacon of Dawn.

As Alasklerbanbastos learned of the invasion, the skies over his volcanic domain gave way to a pillar of light as wide as the mountain itself, centered on the dracolich’s lair. Holy light slammed down from the heavens, Alasklerbanbastos’ body instantly destroyed. Saint Lucea’s message was heard loud and clear - the tyrants of the Untheric Empire can and would be defeated.

War waged between Saint Lucea’s Army of Dawn and Gilgeam’s Victorious Legion, but without Alasklerbanbastos to turn the tide and his Cult of the Dragon stripped of much of their power, Gilgeam’s army was ever on the back foot. With each attempt to rise, Saint Lucea’s Beacon of Dawn crushed Alasklerbanbastos anew, each blast further demoralizing Gilgeam’s Victorious Legion.

In the first years of what became the War on Tyranny, many were eager to fight against the evil empire that had slain their friends and families on a whim. After a decade of constant and bloody struggling, punctuated by the Beacon of Dawn’s incinerating reminder, the war seemed already won.

In their final march, Tchazzar and Saint Lucea led the Army of Dawn along the southern edge of the Smoking Mountains, intending to draw Gilgeam’s main force away from the Untheric Empire’s capital, Unthalass, so that a secondary force could take the city in Gilgeam’s absence. Gilgeam foresaw this gambit, and sending his forces west, he left his city for the first time during the war to remind his enemies why he was called the Son of Victory. Though skilled in combat and righteous in purpose, the secondary battalion was no match for a god.

Emboldened by the utter destruction of the Army of Dawn’s ancillary regiment, Gilgeam ambushed Tchazzar on the Black Ash Plains. What remained of the Cult of the Dragon, with Gilgeam as their new patron, came down the southern ridge of the Smoking Mountains like a terrible storm, cutting off the main force of the Army of Dawn from its commanders. Caught in the pincer attack, it was soon only Tchazzar and Lucea left standing.

Though the Cult of the Dragon eventually fell under the weight of the Army of Dawn, no one knows what truly happened during this final battle with Gilgeam. When the first company of infantry arrived, Tchazzar was nowhere to be seen. The last dregs of the Victorious Legion had broken and retreated. Gilgeam lay dead at the feet of Saint Lucea, who fell unconscious after begging the approaching soldiers to finish the war and take Unthalass.

Unthalass surrendered willingly, glad to be rid of their evil god-king and barely able to fight anyway. Instead, they focused on healing the wounded and weary of the Army of Dawn. Healers on both sides among the army and citizenry alike offered everything they could to bring Saint Lucea back to them. 

In the weeks Saint Lucea slept, the Untheric Empire was renamed the Chessentan Empire. Unther was renamed Tymanther, and Cimbar was established as the new imperial capital. Supply chains were repurposed to reunite families, establish order, and ferry refugees. Those with faith looked to the Beacon of Light to remind them that their champion had not yet gone. The Army of Dawn stood at the base of what was once Gilgeam’s palace, praying for their champion to wake.

As if in response to the first rumors that she might never return to them, Saint Lucea opened her eyes. Despite her recently comatose state, she was immediately dedicated to the people. All of the concern about her health was returned as concern about the state of the new Empire. Once she had been made aware of all the changes, she seemed less anxious, but no less determined. Though many asked, she never spoke of the events that took place on the Black Ash Plains.

Content that Gilgeam was dead, that her Beacon still burned, and that the Untheric Empire was no more, Saint Lucea declared a new war. A war she declared would be “a war on darkness itself.” She gathered her generals and tacticians, intending to invade the Underchasm and scour the evil from within it. Though few were eager to continue waging war, agreed that the shared border with the Underchasm would lead to eventual conflict. With Tchazzar missing, Saint Lucea was the closest thing to a sovereign left, and the people were glad to trust their liberator. 

Away from Unthalass, those who would not or could not fight were given homes, and transport if necessary. Some of the older soldiers retired, unprepared to see through another war. Others took on other roles, as guards, trainers, and highwaymen, protecting their people without inviting the horrors of combat. The citizens of Unther that were too afraid to fight before happily filled the gaps in the ranks. 

In the time between the War on Tyranny and Saint Lucea’s new War on the Dark, Cimbar quickly became the Chessentan Empire’s most popular destination. There was no shortage of those seeking to distance themselves from the landmarks and memories of a life lived under evil’s shadow. 

Another 5 years has passed since the start of Saint Lucea’s War on the Dark, and many who thought the War on Tyranny would be the end of their suffering have grown weary of the warmongering. Cimbar has run out of room to build new homes within the walls, and a shanty town now forms an outer slum that fills the surrounding consecrated land. The Beacon of Light over Mount Thulbane reminds them of what came before, and so the inhabitants of the slums are content to continue to hope for a better future.

Within the walls of Cimbar, life is mostly idyllic. The new Chessentan Empire does not want for fair and just leaders, and while supply lines are ever taxed by the constant war, none go hungry, even in the slums. The consecration has long driven out those who are truly evil. Crime has all but ceased, as known criminals are met with swift and harsh justice. Remaining corrupt nobles have been stripped of their station, and replaced with those who proved themselves in the War on Tyranny and now prefer words over blades.

Despite the comparatively picturesque lives they now live, many are all too aware of the Underchasm on the southern border, and paranoia is a constant throughout the Chessentan Empire. People are stopped for suspicion of harboring former members of the Cult of the Dragon. In the capital, there is fear of others who might have found a way to avoid the consecration. Guards and highwaymen regularly inflict Zone of Truth during routine stops, and innocents are sometimes taken away to ensure they are not sympathetic to the evils of their enemy. Opportunists try to report their rivals for treason; though few are ever punished, most are still forcibly taken for questioning, sometimes for days, and the accusers face no recompense.

This story begins with one such incident. In the market square of central Cimbar, an otherwise routine check is taking place, disrupting the otherwise pleasantly warm afternoon. An elderly woman, one apparently hard of hearing, is being questioned quite aggressively by the stationed guards regarding her purchases, which are nearly too heavy for her to carry. As she stammers out half-answers, one guard continues his verbal assault, with the other pulling out a Truthseeker, casting a Zone of Truth at her feet.

Most merely look on or continue shopping, accepting this as a paid price for their safety. Our heroes, on the other hand...


End file.
